In a world with an intellectual history of seven thousand years behind it, where do Pakistanis stand, what are they doing, what do they aspire to be, and what ought they to be doing? This Blog takes Notes of all of that ...

Sunday, February 24, 2013

ISLAMABAD: In yet another example of might is right, the Capital
Development Authority (CDA) has secretly awarded plots to top civil and
military bureaucrats in recently acquired sectors while thousands of poor
affectees (affected!) are running from pillar to post to get compensation for
their land taken by the authority about four years ago.

According to documents, the authority announced a compensation award for
the affectees (affected!) of sectors C-13, C-14, C-15 and C-16 on Dec 2, 2008
promising to compensate them within six months under land sharing policy.

However, the poor affectees (affected!) with no political connections
have yet to receive compensation for the land, they owned for hundreds of
years. Similarly, the affectees (affected!) of Sector D-13 are also waiting for
compensation for last many years.

However, documents revealed that a former director general of
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and two former members of CDA Board
immediately got plots in the said sector as compensation for the land which
they bought from locals just ahead of CDA’s acquisition. Such is the state of
affairs in the authority that some favourites were even allotted plots without
numbers in yet to be developed sectors.

When contacted, the authority admitted
that some powerful people had been given priority in the process of
compensation while claiming that the genuine affectees (affected!) will also be
compensated soon.

The authority acquired 14,944 kanals of land in revenue estates Sarai
Kharbooza, Sangjani, Sarai Madhu and Shah Allah Ditta for construction of C
series of sectors in 2008. Later, same year, the authority announced an award
of compulsory land acquisition of compensation to be paid to the land owners.

The authority’s deputy commissioner announced monetary compensation for
the land owners in lieu of compulsory land acquisition while those who own more
than four kanals would be entitled to get a developed plot of one kanal against
every four kanals of land acquired from them. It was announced that the plots
will be allotted to land owners within six months from the date of the award.

However, the affectees (affected!) have not received a single penny yet
despite repeated complaints to CDA officials. “The Capital Development
Authority is violating our fundamental rights granted in the constitution by
not paying compensation for our ancestral land,” said Syed
Tanveer Shah, one of the affectees (affected!) who owned 1,477 kanals of
land in Sangjani.

“We are deprived of the income from our agriculture land for last four
years and now the outsiders are building property on our land in connivance
with CDA officials,”he said. Tanveer was of the view
that it is the responsibility of the authority to obtain possession of the land
after the acquisition.

When contacted, the CDA’s current Member Estate Shaista Sohail said she
was unaware of any irregularities in the process of allotments in sector C-16
and D-13 as she had recently joined the authority as member board.

While admitting that some influential persons had already been
compensated for their land in D-13, she urged the other D-13 affectees (affected!)
to contact the authority for compensation. She was of the view that the
authority is in the process of developing road infrastructure for Sector C-13
to C-16 and once the process is completed the affectees (affected!) will start
receiving compensation as per land sharing policy.

The Blogger

The blogger cherishes a cosmopolitan spirit; he is a moralist; a rationalist; a philosopher; a political philosopher; he believes in Classical Liberalism, as a Theory of Conduct.
He has substantially contributed to the founding of the first free market think tank of Pakistan, Alternate Solutions Institute.
He is a writer who wrote / published dozens of articles on a variety of issues, and is author of 4 books.
He wrote / published short-stories in Punjabi, a regional language of Pakistan.
He composes poetry both in Urdu and Punjabi, and has already published one collection.